Upshaw, Big Ben, Redskins bias, dog jokes and more

	Washington's Sean Taylor may not be the biggest player in the NFL, but he has delivered some of the most punishing hit. William E. Amatucci Jr./WireImage.com
	MAILBAG Dr. Z will answer select user questions each week in his NFL mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

I have been asked this question, given the new studies on head injuries and concussions: Can they be related to size and speed of the players? Jason of Berkley, Mich., brings up this point and wonders if the NFL might someday impose a weight limit.

I can't see that happening because I don't think concussions are related to size. Maybe size figures in other injuries ... knee, ankle, etc., since the joints might not be equipped to handle massive weight. But I think concussions and severity of head injuries are related to force of the blow, plus a player's own ability to absorb it, which, according to many fighters, is related to strength of one's neck. The hardest hitters I've seen were not big guys; Jack Tatum and Hardy Brown in bygone days; Roy Williams and Sean Taylor now. They put more opponents on the deck than any of the big guys did.

No dog stories this week, thank God. Except for this one:

Lady has a Schnauzer who develops hair in his ears. She takes him to the vet. "Get some Nair in a drug store and use that," he tells her. So she goes to the drug store. "You want the mild or the strong?" the druggist asks her.

"What' the difference?" she says.

"The mild is for your face, the strong is for your arms or legs."

"It's for my Schnauzer," she says.

"Get the strong but don't ride a bike for two weeks," he says.

This story can also be told with Chihuahua.

On the Roethlisberger beat, since his name seems to have surfaced all over the place: Paul of Phoenix notes Big Ben's "calling out," as he puts it, of his offensive coordinator, then ex-coach Bill Cowher and wonders if BB's suffering from a runaway ego.

Calling out? Gee, I didn't remember those quotes. So I asked Andrew to read the original stuff back to me, and it seemed milder than that, just a guy voicing frustration after a discouraging season. I think he got too much credit at first, when actually what they tried to do was to scale things down as much as possible for him, and he got too much blame when things tanked. Which doesn't really answer your question, right? But I always look for a simpler solution, and mine was that the offensive line seem to get old all at once and no longer was a dominating force. That started the collapse, and Ben got caught in it. Too much ego? Oh, I don't know. No one accused Tom Brady of that when he sounded off about the lack of quality wideouts last year.

Nick of Missoula, Mont., wonders why I give so much air time to rippers. Oh, I don't know. In last week's case, it was Paul F., subbing for the Big A, who sent me twice as much e-mail as usual, and it had an ungodly share of rip letters. At other times, I guess it's just the fear of being accused of dealing with a whole bunch of setup questions that makes me drift to the people who can't stand me. Or maybe it's that they remind me of my first wife.